[lbo-talk] Mr Sarkozy as being too anti-capitalist and left wing

[Nicholas Roberts]

Also, there is no possibility of Mr Hollande appealing for patriotic help
from France's banks: they already own a disproportionate amount of French
government debt; and, whenever I speak to French bankers, they chastise the
current president Mr Sarkozy as being too anti-capitalist and left wing, so
it is doubtful they are feeling well disposed to Mr Hollande.

Which is why many influential investors see Mr Hollande as an intriguing
politician with a lot of mouth but not a huge amount in the trouser
department. They note, for example, that when he made a flying visit to the
UK a few weeks ago, he went out of his way to play down how dangerous he
would be to the City of London and international financial businesses.

If there is an investor who knows a thing or two about governments' room
for manoeuvre in challenging markets it is the hedge-fund veteran George
Soros.

I interviewed Mr Soros yesterday for a new film I am making about the
crisis in the eurozone. "Would Mr Hollande force a significant revision to
December's fiscal compact that places new constraints on deficits and debts
of eurozone governments?" I asked.

I didn't think this was such a dumb question, since such a revision is more
than implied by Mr Hollande's rhetoric. But Mr Soros ascribes a minimal
probability to Mr Hollande loosening the new fiscal constraints or turning
the tide against austerity in Europe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17811923